12 advance chapters in my Patreon.
Patreon.com/Saintbarbido.
::-------------------------------------------::
Chapter 18 Tour.
(A few minutes later)
I knocked on Raven's door before immediately pushing it open.
"Hey."
I waved a hand at her as she looked at me in an expression between anger and surprise.
"You can't just barge into my room like that."
She said in an outrage.
"Sorry, this won't take long."
I placed my hands in my pants pocket, whistling as I looked around. Raven's room was both what I would expect from a goth chick like her and also... not.
There were chains hanging from the ceiling which was just an animation of the night sky, with a bright moon hanging over head acting as the light. The walls of the room were painted with occultist symbols and depicted strange creatures. Oh and also skulls. Lots of skulls.
On the other hand, she had a ton of plushies on the huge pink bed at the corner of the room, an electric Guitar and crazily enough or not crazily enough considering she looked the part, a poster with the band Metallica above the bed.
"Your room is... quite something."
I told her.
Raven sighed in frustration, closing the laptop before her and turning to face me fully.
"What do you want, Davian?"
I leaned on the corner of the desk.
"I need to ask you for a favor."
Raven rolled her eyes.
"Oh really?"
She asked sarcastically.
"Yeah." I nodded, unperturbed.
"But before that, I have a question. Where are we?"
I gestured around us.
That brought her up short.
"What do you mean? You can't be serious. How can you not know that, you've been here for 3 weeks now!"
She asked in a disbelieving tone.
"Exactly. I've been here for 3 weeks. I've not gone outside, and in case you forgot, neither you nor old man Kent really saw a need to answer that particular question."
She stood up.
"You never asked!"
True, that was mostly my fault. However, between everything that had happened and the fact that I already suspected that we were in the Tower of Fate, there hadn't been a need. But to sell the story of not knowing anything, I needed to cover my bases.
"Look, I know I can be... difficult."
I started.
"Understatement."
Raven quipped.
I continued.
"Maybe even unpleasant. Definitely rude. People steer away from me. I usually walk away before that happens. Before the respect turns to fear and the fear turns into hate."
I sighed. Raven had gone silent.
"But I don't have that luxury right now. So you're stuck with my rude, arrogant and unpleasant self and I'm stuck with you and that crazy old hermit."
There was a silence.
"Master Nelson is not crazy."
Raven muttered without too much heat.
"So you admit he's a hermit huh?"
We looked at one another for a few seconds before bursting out in laughter.
"Come on then."
Raven told me, getting up and moving towards the door.
I cocked my head to the side in confusion.
"Where exactly are you taking me?"
"Well for the grand tour of course. You said you wanted to know where you are right? So let's go find out."
(General P.O.V)
Self loathing was a powerful thing.
Raven hated herself. She hated that she couldn't just die because even the escape of death would only bring more problems as she was the only one standing between Trigon and the world.
It's part of the reason why she hadn't tried to escape when Waller had managed to get her hands on her. Raven had reached the point of not really caring. She just went with the flow. Anything to fill the void inside her heart.
Some members of the Squad had actually been fun to hang around with. Killer Frost had been a literal ice queen bitch. She had more than a chip on her shoulder, she had been actively antagonistic towards everyone. Everyone except Raven.
There had been an inkling of respect there. However, the only true reason that she stuck around with the band of murderers and criminals was what Waller had said. That she was putting her up against another monster. Anything to save this fucked up world.
That more than anything had led to her not blasting the heavyset woman to the wall. A bomb at the back of Raven's mind was nothing compared to what she'd been through.
Then she had met the monster and had realized he was nothing like Waller painted him out to be. Davian was a victim as well. The similarities between their fates was as clear as day.
They both carried a burden.
So she chose to save him, creating a portal after being blasted by divine lightning from Shazam's attack, and falling unconscious. The only place she could take him was to Kent's. She had known Kent from a few years back, when he'd saved her.
And that had been how she'd spent the last 3 weeks.
"And finally, this is the armory."
Raven informed Davian.
The older teen hummed in appreciation, looking up at the huge double doors before them. An Ankh symbol was imprinted onto the door. They'd already been through most of the Tower's rooms.
"Armory means he's probably got a few awesome weapons inside, right?"
A black whip formed from underneath Raven's cloak and slapped Davian's hand before he could touch the doors.
"Ow." He looked at her with a frown.
"Mind explaining what that was for?"
Raven slapped her forehead in frustration.
"Don't just go touching everything you see! I thought we talked about it back in the Alchemy chamber."
"The vial had "strength of 10,000 dragon warriors" written on the label. Who would pass up on that kind of power up?"
Davian answered. In his mind, he wouldn't have minded trying out some magical armor to increase his defense.
"There's more to life than power." She rolled her eyes.
"Trust me. There's not."
Davian replied in a moment of seriousness.
"Power allows you to impose your will on anything or... anyone. Its give you freedom. Life is all about freedom, Raven." He stepped closer to her.
"And power gives you that freedom. The faster you realize that, the sooner people will stop fucking around with you."
Both of them held eye contact. Raven's right hand lit up and a bolt of demonic energy streaked through the air, slamming onto the door. The Ankh symbol on the entrance lit up with a shield of yellow energy that covered the door in it's entirety.
"Be careful. Next time you might lose a hand."
She told him before turning around and walking down the hall.
Davian followed her with his eyes. Then he glanced at the armory doors.
"Maybe next time."
He brought his wrist up before he remembered that he didn't have his watch in this world.
"The whole tour is taking longer than I expected."
He commented, catching up to Raven.
She shrugged.
"Every brick making up the tower is individually carved with space expansion magic symbols. It's no surprise that it's so huge. And I haven't even shown you the lower levels."
Davian turned from where he was studying the tapestries on the walls to stare at her.
"Lower levels?"
"Don't ask."
She warned.
"Imagine magic at its rawest form, twisting and roaring upon itself. The tower is sustained by a magical engine. Which in other words is pure mystical essence where all possibilities are within hand."
She trailed the wall with her fingers.
"The core of that magic gives the tower life."
She stopped, grabbed Davian's hand and then placed it flat on the wall. Davian found himself standing very close to her. He absentmindedly noted that she smelled good.
"Close your eyes." Raven told him softly.
"Can you feel her?"
Davian let out a breath and did as Raven said.
He focused on the feeling she was talking about.
'i...'
He gasped, withdrawing his hand.
"You felt it, didn't you?"
Raven smiled from underneath her hood.
Davian wasn't even sure what he had felt.
"It felt like so much...light."
Raven turned around.
"Come, we can raid the kitchen for some fresh cookies before we get back to exploring, Dora."
Davian stopped.
"Wait, did you just make a funny?"
He asked with a disbelieving laugh.
"Ugh, just when I forget how much of an idiot you are..."
The purple clad teen began to walk away.
Davian chuckled, catching up to her again.
"So about the favor I wanted to ask you..."
Raven spared him a glance.
"Yes, what is it? I won't promise to help you though."
Davian waved a hand, lightly brushing his left hand across the pommel of the sword strapped to his hip. He had taken to carrying it everywhere. Whenever he was stressed about something, he would catch himself brushing up against the handle.
"It's not anything bad."
Davian assured as they arrived at the entrance of a maze. A maze of staircases. Davian always wondered how Raven could get from one place to another without getting lost.
'Its the Tower, she leads me where I want to go.' had been her answer. Davian on the other hand always chose to stick to the places easily accessible or use the stairs with Raven. He spent 20 minutes confused a while back, walking up and down while trying to get to the library.
He wrapped his hand around the sword and unsheathed it. Raven frowned. It must have been a trick of her mind but she could swear she saw the air get...cut for a second there.
Davian twirled the weapon while stopping.
"See, I've been trying to learn sword fighting."
He swept the sword across the air, slowly. A glint bounced off the blade owing to the lanterns on the wall.
"With a weapon like this..." He breathed out, running a hand across its flat side.
"It would be a shame if I didn't know how to use it now, wouldn't it?"
He asked.
Raven couldn't take her eyes off the sword. It looked so... unremarkable (except for the symbols on its sheath) yet, a cold feeling gripped her heart. It felt like a guillotine wire was wrapped around her throat, biting into the flesh at an agonizingly slow pace, before it slashed through completely.
"...aven? Raven?"
Raven blinked as she fell out of the trance.
"Sorry."
She shook her head, continuing with her walk, she needed to show him the final place they were allowed in, the observatory.
It was a chamber where you could look at constellations. Astronomy helped in the field of magic a lot. Especially in divination. There were also magical spells that could only be performed according to the stellar calendar. The heavenly bodies movements would increase the spell's power.
"Ok, so what's the favor?"
Raven cleared her throat and asked, stopping before the first step of the staircase leading up.
"Well, I was wondering if you could enchant a few suits of armors, there's one standing around in almost every corner of the tower. The idea was to use them as training partners for sword fighting."
It wasn't a bad idea, Raven mused. She was purely a caster, only moving close range when it was absolutely necessary and Dr.Fate was the same. Davian needed...
An explosion of bright light was followed up by a massive golden Ankh forming infront of them.
Raven brought up her palms to shield her eyes, while Davian leapt forward to shield her, holding his sword at the ready.
From within the Ankh, Dr.Fate floated out. He was in his full costume, cape flapping behind him as he cast a stern gaze Davian's way.
"Boy, you are not supposed to be here. Begone!"
One second Davian was reeling from the sudden entrance of the lord of Order and the next, a sword made of golden light was passing through his chest. Davian felt heat. His eyes widened as large as saucers. The whole attack had been too fast.
His body was picked off from the ground and thrown back the way they had come, the hallway. He smacked on the wall at the end and felt the concrete give way to his body. Then darkness claimed him.
"Azarath Metrion Zinthos!!"
A ray of purple light pushed past the darkness, forcefully bringing him back. Then the pain came, blood lurched to his throat and out through his mouth as he coughed. Something sticky dyed his face as instead of following down his body, the blood instead flowed up.
'What the?...' He groaned, looking around with the light of the mystical sword still inside his chest. His sight was blurry and focusing through the pain too a major effort.
What he could see however, filled him with more dread. There was a purple magical rope attached to his ankle, making his body hang over...is that Lava?
12 advance chapters in my Patreon.
Patreon.com/Saintbarbido.
::-------------------------------------------::
Chapter 18 Tour.
(A few minutes later)
I knocked on Raven's door before immediately pushing it open.
"Hey."
I waved a hand at her as she looked at me in an expression between anger and surprise.
"You can't just barge into my room like that."
She said in an outrage.
"Sorry, this won't take long."
I placed my hands in my pants pocket, whistling as I looked around. Raven's room was both what I would expect from a goth chick like her and also... not.
There were chains hanging from the ceiling which was just an animation of the night sky, with a bright moon hanging over head acting as the light. The walls of the room were painted with occultist symbols and depicted strange creatures. Oh and also skulls. Lots of skulls.
On the other hand, she had a ton of plushies on the huge pink bed at the corner of the room, an electric Guitar and crazily enough or not crazily enough considering she looked the part, a poster with the band Metallica above the bed.
"Your room is... quite something."
I told her.
Raven sighed in frustration, closing the laptop before her and turning to face me fully.
"What do you want, Davian?"
I leaned on the corner of the desk.
"I need to ask you for a favor."
Raven rolled her eyes.
"Oh really?"
She asked sarcastically.
"Yeah." I nodded, unperturbed.
"But before that, I have a question. Where are we?"
I gestured around us.
That brought her up short.
"What do you mean? You can't be serious. How can you not know that, you've been here for 3 weeks now!"
She asked in a disbelieving tone.
"Exactly. I've been here for 3 weeks. I've not gone outside, and in case you forgot, neither you nor old man Kent really saw a need to answer that particular question."
She stood up.
"You never asked!"
True, that was mostly my fault. However, between everything that had happened and the fact that I already suspected that we were in the Tower of Fate, there hadn't been a need. But to sell the story of not knowing anything, I needed to cover my bases.
"Look, I know I can be... difficult."
I started.
"Understatement."
Raven quipped.
I continued.
"Maybe even unpleasant. Definitely rude. People steer away from me. I usually walk away before that happens. Before the respect turns to fear and the fear turns into hate."
I sighed. Raven had gone silent.
"But I don't have that luxury right now. So you're stuck with my rude, arrogant and unpleasant self and I'm stuck with you and that crazy old hermit."
There was a silence.
"Master Nelson is not crazy."
Raven muttered without too much heat.
"So you admit he's a hermit huh?"
We looked at one another for a few seconds before bursting out in laughter.
"Come on then."
Raven told me, getting up and moving towards the door.
I cocked my head to the side in confusion.
"Where exactly are you taking me?"
"Well for the grand tour of course. You said you wanted to know where you are right? So let's go find out."
(General P.O.V)
Self loathing was a powerful thing.
Raven hated herself. She hated that she couldn't just die because even the escape of death would only bring more problems as she was the only one standing between Trigon and the world.
It's part of the reason why she hadn't tried to escape when Waller had managed to get her hands on her. Raven had reached the point of not really caring. She just went with the flow. Anything to fill the void inside her heart.
Some members of the Squad had actually been fun to hang around with. Killer Frost had been a literal ice queen bitch. She had more than a chip on her shoulder, she had been actively antagonistic towards everyone. Everyone except Raven.
There had been an inkling of respect there. However, the only true reason that she stuck around with the band of murderers and criminals was what Waller had said. That she was putting her up against another monster. Anything to save this fucked up world.
That more than anything had led to her not blasting the heavyset woman to the wall. A bomb at the back of Raven's mind was nothing compared to what she'd been through.
Then she had met the monster and had realized he was nothing like Waller painted him out to be. Davian was a victim as well. The similarities between their fates was as clear as day.
They both carried a burden.
So she chose to save him, creating a portal after being blasted by divine lightning from Shazam's attack, and falling unconscious. The only place she could take him was to Kent's. She had known Kent from a few years back, when he'd saved her.
And that had been how she'd spent the last 3 weeks.
"And finally, this is the armory."
Raven informed Davian.
The older teen hummed in appreciation, looking up at the huge double doors before them. An Ankh symbol was imprinted onto the door. They'd already been through most of the Tower's rooms.
"Armory means he's probably got a few awesome weapons inside, right?"
A black whip formed from underneath Raven's cloak and slapped Davian's hand before he could touch the doors.
"Ow." He looked at her with a frown.
"Mind explaining what that was for?"
Raven slapped her forehead in frustration.
"Don't just go touching everything you see! I thought we talked about it back in the Alchemy chamber."
"The vial had "strength of 10,000 dragon warriors" written on the label. Who would pass up on that kind of power up?"
Davian answered. In his mind, he wouldn't have minded trying out some magical armor to increase his defense.
"There's more to life than power." She rolled her eyes.
"Trust me. There's not."
Davian replied in a moment of seriousness.
"Power allows you to impose your will on anything or... anyone. Its give you freedom. Life is all about freedom, Raven." He stepped closer to her.
"And power gives you that freedom. The faster you realize that, the sooner people will stop fucking around with you."
Both of them held eye contact. Raven's right hand lit up and a bolt of demonic energy streaked through the air, slamming onto the door. The Ankh symbol on the entrance lit up with a shield of yellow energy that covered the door in it's entirety.
"Be careful. Next time you might lose a hand."
She told him before turning around and walking down the hall.
Davian followed her with his eyes. Then he glanced at the armory doors.
"Maybe next time."
He brought his wrist up before he remembered that he didn't have his watch in this world.
"The whole tour is taking longer than I expected."
He commented, catching up to Raven.
She shrugged.
"Every brick making up the tower is individually carved with space expansion magic symbols. It's no surprise that it's so huge. And I haven't even shown you the lower levels."
Davian turned from where he was studying the tapestries on the walls to stare at her.
"Lower levels?"
"Don't ask."
She warned.
"Imagine magic at its rawest form, twisting and roaring upon itself. The tower is sustained by a magical engine. Which in other words is pure mystical essence where all possibilities are within hand."
She trailed the wall with her fingers.
"The core of that magic gives the tower life."
She stopped, grabbed Davian's hand and then placed it flat on the wall. Davian found himself standing very close to her. He absentmindedly noted that she smelled good.
"Close your eyes." Raven told him softly.
"Can you feel her?"
Davian let out a breath and did as Raven said.
He focused on the feeling she was talking about.
'i...'
He gasped, withdrawing his hand.
"You felt it, didn't you?"
Raven smiled from underneath her hood.
Davian wasn't even sure what he had felt.
"It felt like so much...light."
Raven turned around.
"Come, we can raid the kitchen for some fresh cookies before we get back to exploring, Dora."
Davian stopped.
"Wait, did you just make a funny?"
He asked with a disbelieving laugh.
"Ugh, just when I forget how much of an idiot you are..."
The purple clad teen began to walk away.
Davian chuckled, catching up to her again.
"So about the favor I wanted to ask you..."
Raven spared him a glance.
"Yes, what is it? I won't promise to help you though."
Davian waved a hand, lightly brushing his left hand across the pommel of the sword strapped to his hip. He had taken to carrying it everywhere. Whenever he was stressed about something, he would catch himself brushing up against the handle.
"It's not anything bad."
Davian assured as they arrived at the entrance of a maze. A maze of staircases. Davian always wondered how Raven could get from one place to another without getting lost.
'Its the Tower, she leads me where I want to go.' had been her answer. Davian on the other hand always chose to stick to the places easily accessible or use the stairs with Raven. He spent 20 minutes confused a while back, walking up and down while trying to get to the library.
He wrapped his hand around the sword and unsheathed it. Raven frowned. It must have been a trick of her mind but she could swear she saw the air get...cut for a second there.
Davian twirled the weapon while stopping.
"See, I've been trying to learn sword fighting."
He swept the sword across the air, slowly. A glint bounced off the blade owing to the lanterns on the wall.
"With a weapon like this..." He breathed out, running a hand across its flat side.
"It would be a shame if I didn't know how to use it now, wouldn't it?"
He asked.
Raven couldn't take her eyes off the sword. It looked so... unremarkable (except for the symbols on its sheath) yet, a cold feeling gripped her heart. It felt like a guillotine wire was wrapped around her throat, biting into the flesh at an agonizingly slow pace, before it slashed through completely.
"...aven? Raven?"
Raven blinked as she fell out of the trance.
"Sorry."
She shook her head, continuing with her walk, she needed to show him the final place they were allowed in, the observatory.
It was a chamber where you could look at constellations. Astronomy helped in the field of magic a lot. Especially in divination. There were also magical spells that could only be performed according to the stellar calendar. The heavenly bodies movements would increase the spell's power.
"Ok, so what's the favor?"
Raven cleared her throat and asked, stopping before the first step of the staircase leading up.
"Well, I was wondering if you could enchant a few suits of armors, there's one standing around in almost every corner of the tower. The idea was to use them as training partners for sword fighting."
It wasn't a bad idea, Raven mused. She was purely a caster, only moving close range when it was absolutely necessary and Dr.Fate was the same. Davian needed...
An explosion of bright light was followed up by a massive golden Ankh forming infront of them.
Raven brought up her palms to shield her eyes, while Davian leapt forward to shield her, holding his sword at the ready.
From within the Ankh, Dr.Fate floated out. He was in his full costume, cape flapping behind him as he cast a stern gaze Davian's way.
"Boy, you are not supposed to be here. Begone!"
One second Davian was reeling from the sudden entrance of the lord of Order and the next, a sword made of golden light was passing through his chest. Davian felt heat. His eyes widened as large as saucers. The whole attack had been too fast.
His body was picked off from the ground and thrown back the way they had come, the hallway. He smacked on the wall at the end and felt the concrete give way to his body. Then darkness claimed him.
"Azarath Metrion Zinthos!!"
A ray of purple light pushed past the darkness, forcefully bringing him back. Then the pain came, blood lurched to his throat and out through his mouth as he coughed. Something sticky dyed his face as instead of following down his body, the blood instead flowed up.
'What the?...' He groaned, looking around with the light of the mystical sword still inside his chest. His sight was blurry and focusing through the pain too a major effort.
What he could see however, filled him with more dread. There was a purple magical rope attached to his ankle, making his body hang over...is that Lava?
